Tom Tiddler's Ground 



acter of branching, a dumb-waiter effect, that this species 

 is noted for. C. Mas aureus elegans is very soft and pretty, 

 with a creamy-white variegation. Elegans may pass, but 

 aureus is an untruthful epithet ; it is weaker in golden 

 glow than an Australian sovereign, and so has been placed 

 among the silver plants. Weigela rosea and Philadelphus 

 coronaria have good silver forms. The variegated Ruta 

 graveolens, if kept sheared over twice in the season, makes 

 a wonderfully beautiful, hoary-headed specimen, looking 

 more like a plant in full flower than mere variegation when 

 seen from a distance. Euonymus europaeus aucubaefolius 

 has up to the present only come out in spots towards the 

 end of summer, but an older specimen may be more effec- 

 tive earlier. Of herbaceous plants also only a few of the 

 best forms of variegation have been planted here as yet. 

 Scrophularia aquatica is one of the most effective, broadly 

 blotched with cream colour and good at most times 

 of the year. Mentha rotundifolia, fol. var., requires look- 

 ing after. It runs and spreads with marvellous rapidity, 

 and is inclined to go back green, but makes up for 

 it by giving a large number of wholly white shoots ; so it 

 is wise to keep on replanting from the most variegated 

 portions. Acorus Calamus has a very effective variegated 

 form, with a certain amount of burnt sienna and rich red 

 about the bases of the leaves. It is best in a bog, but 

 consents to live in a not too dry border. Artemisia vulgaris 

 [the Mugwort], Lychnis dioica, a Chrysanthemum, several 

 Funkias, Crown Imperial, and Sweet Violet all have good 

 green and white forms, and grasses provide Phalaris 

 arundinacea or Gardeners' Garters, but in the better form 

 with the centre of each leaf broadly white. Arrhenatherum 



201 



